Psychology of Time Perception

Navigating through Time

• Interval timing is related to spatial navigation, and both are crucial for survival in predator-prey relationships.

Introduction to Timing

• Time is essential for animal behavior, influencing actions such as foraging and predator avoidance.
• The brain interprets time differently in various parts, with cells used for spatial path integration.
• Spatial path integration occurs through the integration of information from different sensory inputs.
• The body has multiple internal clocks that measure time durations, which are integrated for spatial navigation.

Interval Timing

• Interval timing operates on timescales from milliseconds to minutes, involving distinct brain regions and mechanisms.
• This type of timing is involved in various behaviors and can be generated through sequential or ramping activity patterns.
• Timing is a pervasive yet elusive concept, unclear if it's a physical quantity or not.
• No sensory organ can directly detect time, but our perception and concept of time are innate and naturally ingrained.
• Foraging animals use internal timing models to estimate predator duration and optimize capture strategies.
• Predators also use timing to maximize prey capture, taking into account distance and velocity.

Timing in the Brain

• Neurons in the auditory cortex are tuned to millisecond intervals in inter-lick intervals.
• In eye-blink conditioning, cerebellar neurons respond just before the air puff, illustrating the role of the cerebellum in timing.
• The cerebellum is involved in generating behaviorally skilled sequences, with diverse timescales and neural circuits.

Spatial Integration in 2 Dimensions

• The current position of an animal is shown in x, while the internal estimate of position is shown in gray.
• There are five types of cells involved in spatial integration: Speed Cell, Head Direction Cell, Grid Cell, Place Cell, and Border Cell.

Functions of Cells

• Speed Cell: encodes speed
• Head Direction Cell: encodes orientation of animal with uncertainty
• Grid Cell: encodes periodic representation of position
• Place Cell: encodes current position
• Border Cell: encodes close proximity to a place
• Grid cells integrate speed and orientation signals to generate single-peaked place cells
• Border cells correct and reset these positions

Interval Timing through Time Integration in One Dimension (1D)

• Elapsed Time: measured after start cell
• External Time: measured in t-blocks
• Internal Time Estimate: if it is nearer or less to external time shown in gray
• Periodic Temporal Cell: encodes moment-to-moment internal presentation of time until stop encountered

Interval Timing-Including Cells

• Temporal Derivative Cell: encodes interval derivative of temporal cell's presentation of time
• Temporal Derivative Cells are integrated by hypothesized firing temporal cells
• Border Cells: reset on correct encoding of time at start time in temporal and time cells on stop positions

Pyramidal Cells of Hippocampus

• Sequentially during delay period neurons in counter and stratum encode delay period to various spatial patterns including roaming activity
• Speed Cell: encodes speed

Memory in Lateral Enterohinal Cortex

• Responds to cumulative duration in alteration to various times shown in gray

Tranexiption-Translation Feedback Loop

• In neurons of superchiasmatic nucleus (SCN) result in 24-4 circadian rhythm

Pyramidal Cells of Hippocampus

• Process sensory and motor cues to form cognitive map, encoding spatial, contextual, and emotional information which transmit towards brain

Basal Ganglia

• A group of subcortical nuclei responsible primarily for control of motor functions, executive functions, learning, and memory

Striatum

• Part of basal ganglia
• Involved in habit formation, reward, and motor control

Entorhinal Cortex

• Multisensory area
• Primary interface with hippocampus
• Involved in memory, navigation, and perception of time

Lateral Entorhinal Cortex

• Process one of major pathways to hippocampus
• Process non-spatial contextual information about episodic memory

Difference Between Hippocampus & Entorhinal Cortex

• The posterior hippocampus encodes path during travel, making decisions and detours, while the entorhinal cortex encodes distance along with vectors when the goal is set